Ansset was instantly alarmed. He sat up, and was surprised to find that his head did not hurt very badly, and that he was only languid, not incapacitated. Then we have to find him. Call the Chief of Security.
She called him; he came in a matter of moments.
We have to organize a search for Josif, Ansset said.
I find it hard to believe no search has been organized up to now.
The Chief looked at the floor. Not really, he said.
He may be suicidal, Ansset said, letting the outrage pour into his voice.
Calip didn't ask for a search, sir, but I wouldn't have organized one anyway.
Ansset could not believe the insubordination from these men, who in the last two years he had thought were dependable. Then you would have been removed from office, as you are right now.
As you wish, sir. But I wouldn't have organized a search for Josif because I know where he is.
His voice was still uncertain-he may know where Josif is, Ansset thought, but he certainly doesn't know how Josif is.
Who has him? Where is he?
Imperial Security, sir. It was only natural. We didn't know what had happened to you. We suspected an attempt had been made on your life. It was only three hours after we got to you that we found what was wrong. And in the meantime, we had notified the emperor. He left standing orders with me to let him know if anything happened to you.
Imperial Security has Josif, Kyaren said numbly.
Why didn't you tell me?
The Ferret told me not to tell you until you asked."
The Ferret gives orders that you aren't to notify me of something this important?
The Chief looked uncomfortable. The emperor always backs Ferret up in what he says. And you must understand, sir, finding you the way we did, with Josif the way he was--
How was he? Kyaren demanded.
Stark naked, the Chief said blandly. And screaming his lungs out. We thought he'd tried to bugger you with something, sir. We had no idea what was going on. You never know, with homosexuals.
Kyaren slapped the Chief, which he took calmly. You don't deal with them like I do, he said. This sort of thing happens a lot.
What sort of thing, Ansset said, taking Kyaren's hands and holding them. She was trembling. It happens all the time that the Songhouse drugs nearly kill someone?
I mean violence. Homosexuals are like that,
Josif isn't, Ansset said. Josif isn't at all. And therefore your theory isn't worth shit. He made his voice as ugly as possible; he saved vulgarity for times when he needed it, and it pleased him that the Chief winced. Now get us a direct flight to Susquehanna.
There isn't any from Caernarvon."
There is now. And it will take off in fifteen minutes."
It took off in fifteen minutes, and Ansset and Kyaren sat together in an empty commercial jet. There was only one steward-they dismissed him immediately. The security guards, much against standard procedure, were following in another plane. Ansset was still weak, but the tension had helped him keep going during the rush to the port. Now he relaxed, not sleeping but not wholly awake, lost in his thoughts.
After a while, however, he realized that Kyaren might need company more than he needed rest. She stared out the window at the ocean below, motionlessly; but her hands were white from gripping the armrest on the seat, which was rigid to match her tension.
Kyaren, he said. Hell be all right. I can clear this up with Riktors in a short time.
She nodded, but said nothing.
That isn't all, is it?
She shook her head.
Does it bother you that Josif and I were together? I didn't think it would, but he acted as if he thought it might.
No, she said. I don't mind you being together.
But.
But what? she asked.
You were thinking, but. You don't mind, but?
She looked down at her lap, and intertwined her fingers nervously. Ansset, the first time you and he met. Two years ago, when you came home with me for a salad.
Ansset smiled. I remember.
Josif told me. That he thought he was going to fall in love with you.
Did you mind?
Why should I mind? she answered, her voice jumpy with emotion. There's plenty of love, what should I care? I love both you and him, you know, and you love both of us, but he kept talking as if it were something that could only- As if once he loved you, he would have to stop loving me. He said that. He said that if he ever made love to you, it would be.
It would be what?
It would be after he stopped loving me."
It sounded like nonsense to Ansset. But then he realized that, whether he meant to or not, he had so far loved serially. Esste and then Mikal and then Riktors and then Kyaren. But did he love Kyaren less for having loved Josif? Of course not.
Yet now Josif's actions made sense. If he really believed that, then it made a perverse sort of sense for him to have resisted his own desire for Ansset for so long, for him to have avoided becoming friends with Ansset, knowing what it would cost him if it ever became more than friendship.
Where's Efrim? Ansset asked.
I left him in Caernarvon with the wife of the minister of information.
Josif still loves you, Ansset said.
She looked at him and tried to smile in agreement. But her heart wasn't in it. Josif was in the custody of Imperial Security, and it had happened because he had done the thing he had said would mean the end of them. And what about Efrim?
There's always the contract, Kyaren said, and wept. Ansset put his arms around her, held her head against his chest. He was surprised to realize that he was taller than Kyaren now. He was growing up. Soon he would be a man. He wondered what that would mean. Surely he could not have more required of him as an adult than had been required of him as a child. There could not be more.
10
Riktors received them in the great hall.
There were no guards. Only the ferret. But Ansset and Kyaren knew that he was guard enough.
The Mayor of the palace brought them in, but at Riktors's nod, he left. Kyaren was keenly aware of the tension in the air. None was visible from Ansset, but Kyaren knew that didn't mean anything. Control still served him when he needed it, usually. And the tension in Riktors was clear. Kyaren had not seen the man close up. He had the imperial presence, the mood about him so that no one dared oppose him. Yet he also seemed afraid. As if Ansset held a weapon that could hurt him, and he was terrified that it would be used.
She knew they had not seen each other in two years. Knew, also, from her conversations with Ansset that they had not parted on friendly terms. Yet they outwardly seemed pleased to see each other, and Kyaren did not think it was all a sham.
I've missed you, Riktors said.
And I you, Ansset answered.
My servants tell me that you've done very well
Better than I had expected, not as well as I had hoped, Ansset said.
Come here, Riktors said.
Ansset walked forward, came within a few meters of the throne, and knelt, touching his head to the floor. Impatiently, Riktors motioned for him to arise and come closer. You don't need to do that kind of thing, not when there's no audience.
But I've come to ask a favor from the throne.
I know you have, Riktors said, and his face darkened. We'll discuss that later. How have you been?
Reasonably good health, surrounded by reasonably helpful people. I've come for Josif. He's innocent of any , crime,
Is he? Riktors asked.
And Kyaren's heart suddenly grew heavy in her chest, and she felt something go out of her. She identified it a moment later as confidence. She had been expecting no resistance-just an error, to be rectified as soon as there was an explanation. What crime had Josif committed? Why was the emperor delaying and arguing?